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r. Neman's Cljanksgibrng Sermon. 






THANKSGIVING 



THE TIMES OF CIVIL WAR: 






DELIVERED IN THE 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

TROY, NEW YORK, 
NOV. 2STI1, 1S61. 

BY Nrs/^Sf* BE MAN. 



TROY, K . Y . : 

A. VV. SCUIUNER J; CO., PIUNTERS, CANNON I'LACK. 
1 8 <i 1 . 






I 






# 



Troy, November 30th, 1861. 

N. S. S. Beman, D. D., 

Jiev. and Dear Sir : 

In view of the pleasure afforded by the delivery 
of your Sermon, of the 28th inst., upon "Thanksgiving in the Times 
of Civil War," we respectfully request a copy of it for publication, 
believing that its pure patriotism, and able vindication of the loyal 
North, will exert a wide and beneficent influence. 

Very respectfully, 

J. M. FRANCIS, 

H. J. KING, 

DAVID COWEE, 

G. V. S. QUACKENBUSH, 

M. I. TOWNSEND. 



Troy, December 2d, 1861. 
To J. M. Francis, II. J. King, Datid Cowee, G. V. S. Quackenbcsh, 

AXr> M. I. TOWNSESD, 

Gentlemen : 

Your request is before me. The Discourse to 
which you refer, was prepared for the congregation to which I have 
long ministered, and I am gratified that It has been received with 
favor. In hopes, that its i)ublication may still further promote the 
objects for which it was written, I cheerfully consign it to your 
disposal. 

Very respectfully and truly yours, 

N. S. S. BEMAN. 



DISCOURSE. 



]' S A L M 115: 16. 

.< THK HKAVKN, EVK. T„K „.AVENS, A.K THE LoK.V BOT THE EAKTH 
HATH HE GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN." 

These words are taken from a cliarming 
divine ode; and they form a gem in this 
finished oriental picture. And while this pro- 
duction is elevated in its subject-matter, and 
presented in the rich strains of Hebrew poetry, 
it is not inappropriate to this morning's convo- 
cation. The design, or purpose, of its author, 
is to inspire gratitude in the hearts of those for 
whom it was first written, and afterwards set 
to music, and then used in pubhc worship. 
The mode in which he would compass this 
pious end, is a legitimate and natural one. He 
compares the condition of Israel with that of 
other nations, and especially in matters pertain- 
ing to theology, and tlie natural and necessary 



6 

influence of different systems of belief on the 
moral and material interests of a people. Their 
correct notions of God, not less than tlie provi- 
dence of God itself, had made them to differ 
from others. 

The nations of the world, with all their high 
attainments — their philosophy and refinement 
— their progress in the arts of peace, and their 
skill and achievements in Avar, were blind 
idolaters. They had not formed the first con- 
ception of an infinite, personal, and spiritual 
God. Their deities were "dumb idols." They 
were not unfrequently material images in the 
form of men, — " silver and gold " and the like, 
and frequently of far baser materials. And 
while they were furnished w^ith human organs, 
and were received and worshiped as gods, 
they exercised no powers of life or action. 
They were dumb, sightless, deaf, — and were 
devoid of the sense of smell and feeling. 
Their hands had no executive power, and their 
feet were incapable of locomotion. Such gods, 
and their makers and worshipers, formed a fit 
confraternity. "They that make them are like 
unto them; so is ever}^ one tliat trusteth in 
them." 



But the Hebrews shared a liappier lot. Of 
them it is written, "Ye are blessed of the Lord 
whit'h made heaven and earth." The discrim- 
inating Ibvors which lifted them far above the 
summit level of the heathen world, must not 
be buried in inglorious silence, but commemo- 
rated, by appropriate rites and observances. 
And these acts must be national, because a 
nation has an organic existence only in the 
present world. National devotion, and national 
retribution, are restricted to this life, while 
immortahty cleaves only to the individual. 
" The Lord hath been mindful of us : he will 
bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he 
will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless 
them that fear the Lord, both small and great. 
The Lord shall increase you more and more, 
you and your children. The heaven, even the 
heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he 
given to the children of men. The dead"— 
whether nations or individuals— "praise not 
the Lord, neither they that go down into 
silence. But we "—the living, both in .>ur 
associated and individual capacity— "will bless 
the Lord from this time forth and for ever- 



8 

more. Praise ye the Lord." This is strongly 
national in its characteristics. 

The main drift, or aim, of this inspired song, 
is now before us. The text — "The heaven, 
even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth 
hath he given to the children of men," — con- 
tains a great thought, in keeping with the spirit 
of the whole production, and will furnish the 
suggestions for this occasion. 

There are two declarations in the passage — 
" The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's 
— but the earth hath he given to the children 
of men," — and both of them must be taken 
with certain needful restrictions. "The heaven, 
even the heavens, are Jehovah's," not in the 
sense, that it is the abode of his own solitary 
and exclusive presence and graixleur, while 
every other being is barred from its confines. 
Angels are there. " The spirits of just men 
made perfect," are there. In heaven is the 
throne of God, and there is tlie home of his 
glory. The law of God is tlie rule in that 
world, and the will of God is done there, 
universally, invariably, perfectly, and for ever. 
It is not, like our world, the place for reclaim- 
ing sinners, or of training imperfect moral 



9 

agents for eternal life. There is no govern- 
ment tliere bnt God's, — and no agency save 
his own divine efficiency, and that which 
sweetly accords with his gracious and benign 
will. In one word, God is all in all, there ; 
and this justifies the declaration, that " The 
heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's." 

Heaven is God's best world, and the human 
eye is capable of catcliing a faint glimpse of 
its glories, as they are sinned upon by the 
light of the scriptures. The pictures of heaven 
contained in the Bible, are, for the most part, 
combinations formed from elements selected 
from the attractive scenes and the brilliant 
objects of our world, — and these make their 
appeal both to our laitli and imagination. A 
man of taste merely, must feel some interest in 
the gospel heaven, and a man of a pure heart 
and of lofty spiritual aspirations, cannot but 
wish to become a citizen of that kingdom 
where God is supreme, his will the sole law, 
and his glory the master-passion of every heart. 
That kingdom is heaven. " The heaven, even 
the heavens, are the Lord's." In this sense, 
that world is his. His throne stands there, and 

those who are like him, kneel down before it. 

2 



10 

But the arrangements of God, and his dis- 
posals, are not confined to heaven. "The earth 
hath he given to the children of men." It was 
God's by creative power, and, by his own 
choice it became a gift to our race, in all com- 
ing generations. The ultimate end of all God's 
works, is, no doubt, his own glory. " Thou 
art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, and 
honor and power: for thou hast created all 
things, and for thy pleasure they are and w^ere 
created." But in creation, there are many 
subordinate ends, and in providence, there are 
long trains of connected causes and effects, all 
terminating in one ultimate end, and one final 
cause. God is that end, and that cause. 

On this philosophical principle, we may say 
truly, that the earth was made for man, and 
given to him and his children. Look at the 
record of creation. The seven days employed 
in divine construction, by a regular gradation, 
culminated in man. He alone wore the divine 
image, and to him was given the diadem and 
dominion of the earth. This was his patri- 
mony from the hand of God. "Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue 
it," was the connnand of the munificent donor. 



I 



11 

" The earth hath he sriveii to the chihh-en of 



men." 



This theory appHes to the original creation. 
Before sin was conceived on earth, or Adam 
fell, this world was designed for man and his 
posterity. It was to be theirs through all gen- 
erations. Not to the exclusion of God and his 
moral government. No. God could give the 
earth to men for their own use and purposes, 
and yet retain it for his. His ownership, or 
property, can be ahenated in no part of his 
broad domains. By such an act, he would lay 
down -his supremacy, and cease to be God. 
While, then, he has "given the earth to the 
children of men," he must for ever remain its 
physical and moral governor, and will be, its 
final judge; " for of him, and through him, and 
to him are all things," 

If man had remained loyal, and sin had 
never blighted our system, the earth would 
have presented a very different picture from 
that which now meets the eye. The precise 
state of things, must be a matter of conjecture, 
rather than certainty. I here see a green-clad 
and fruitful earth. Thorns and thistles there 
are none. Over head are l)rilliant heavens. 



12 

The air that is inhaled is balmy as the breath of 
Spring ; and no pestilence floats upon its bo- 
som. But these, after all, are the mere append- 
ages of a world, — the furniture and decorations 
of the superb mansion. The higher perfection 
must be looked for in man, the living inhabitant 
of this magnificent building, the handy work 
of the great architect. Fancy, then, to your- 
selves, what our earth, rich and gorgeous, and 
fresh from the hand of its maker, must have 
been without the stain of human sin upon it, — 
one broad illimitable Eden — the primitive 
walls removed, and Paradise made universal : 
and all this glowing scene lighted up by one 
brilliant luminary by day, and by a thousand 
lesser, though chaster, diamond lamps by night, 
—and you have a very natural conception of 
a sinless world, as given to man and his poster- 
ity, at least in prospect, as "a goodly heritage." 
And, then, if we ascend from the physical to 
the intellectual and spiritual, what a race would 
have peopled this globe 1 One that would 
have appreciated the gift, and honored the 
giver. Sin for ever barred access, it would 
require but little imagination to teach us what 
a world this must have been. The earth, in 



13 



accordance with the divine pnrpose, wonld 
soon have been replenished and subdued,— 
because no adverse elements would have ob- 
structed the growth of population, or retarded 
the progress of mind, or of productive skill, in 
any thing great or good. AYhat nations would 
have covered, and cheered with intelligence 
and enterprise, the continents and islands which 
go to make up our globe! And not a dis- 
cordant element among them all. There are 
no wars— because no national encroachments 
any where exist,— no thefts or robberies are 
committed, because there is no avarice to 
prompt to such deeds of villainy,— no assas- 
sinations, because there is no malice to point 
the steel, and nerve the arm, and deal the fatal 
)3low,— no disgraceful chains for the felon, for 
crime there is none among men,— no slave 
ship plows the wave, or slave mart, desecrates 
the soil, for every one loves his neighbor as 
himself, and cannot become an oppressor: — 
and, in one word, in the repulsive forms in 
which it now occurs— wo death! Love to God 
and love to man are the dominant aftections 
every w^here, while human governments are 
easily administered, and salutary laws— and 



14 

all are siicli — well nigh execute themselves. 
The divine mechanism is perfect : and the 
moral machine with all its mysterious compli- 
cations, moves in harmony. 

But for the apostasy, this entire picture, more 
highly touched and finished, might have been 
seen in our world. The worship of the true 
God would liave been universal, and " the 
higher law" — God's law — would have been 
the basis of all human legislation. The pro- 
gress of man would have been restricted to no 
definable limits, and this world, in knowledge 
and goodness, would have been brought into 
near proximity to heaven. A thin partition 
wall only would have stood between them. 
Little more than a mathematical line, having 
length, but no breadth or thickness, would have 
separated and distinguished them from each 
other, and informed us where the one ended, 
and the other began. 

But we must look at this gift of God to the 
children of men, in relation to the attitude of 
things as superinduced by the fall. This origi- 
nal grant was not annulled, or revoked, by the 
new moral position of our race. The earth is 
still their inheritance l)y divine charter. This 



15 

is incidentally asserted by Paul in his address 
on Mars Hill, at Athens. He tells us, that God 
"hath made of one blood all nations of men, for 
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath 
determined the times before appointed, and the 
bounds of their habitation ; that they should 
seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after 
him, and find him, though he be not far from 
every one of us." 

Without attempting a critical analysis of this 
passage, I may say, that the following things 
are clearly taught, or fairly implied, in the 
language here used:— The unity of the human 
j,f^ce ; — they are " of one blood." God, in the 
beginning, created one human pair, and only 
one ; and from these two sprang " all nations." 
The whole "face of the earth" was designed 
for "their habitation"— whether they should 
stand firm in their uprightness, or lapse into 
sin. This inheritance was to be free and open 
to all ; and all might seek and secure, as re- 
sponsible moral agents, the great objects of 
human life. Nor was this charter vacated, by 
the fall. This fact is assumed by the Apostle. 
The same rule was to obtain, and the same 
rights to be enjoyed, under the gospel as a 



16 

remedial system, as under the primitive law. 
Indeed, lie applies tlie principle especially to 
the present existing state of the world and its 
nations. He made them, and ordered their lot, 
as he has, " That they should seek the Lord, if 
haply they might feel after him, and find him." 
There are certain great princij)les, not less of 
morals and religion, than of politics and juris- 
prudence, set fortli in the " Declaration of 
Independence," which are now characterized, 
in certain quarters, for special purposes, as 
" rhetorical flourishes," and " glittering general- 
ities," that might find their prototype in this 
charter of human rights drawn up by Paul, 
and announced in the celebrated Areopagus. 
If we could trace intuitively the subtle pro- 
cesses of thought, and follow its electric flash 
from one master-mind to another, we might 
feel ourselves not less indebted to the apostle 
Paul than to Thomas Jefl'erson, for such foun- 
dation principles as these: "We hold these 
truths to be self-evident — that all men are 
created equal ; that they are endowed by tlieir 
Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. That to secure these rights, gov- 



17 

ernments are established among men, deriving 
their just powers from the consent of the 
governed." 

The peophng of the earth, according to the 
purpose of God, presents a fruitful subject of 
research, as a matter of history, — and the 
origin, growth, and subversion of empires, are 
not less so, as matters of profound philosophy. 
But these cannot be disposed of in a single 
sermon. Both of them — only as they occur 
incidentally — must be passed in silence. 

That God intended men to occvipy his gift, 
by settling the earth and cultivating it, may be 
learned not only :^rom the fact, that he uttered 
a command to this eifect, but when they were 
slow to obey this command, and seemed deter- 
mined to cluster around their birth-place and 
their cradle, and live and die there, he wrought 
a special miracle for their dispersion. This 
miracle was the origin of nations. How far 
the physical elements of different countries 
contributed to form and perpetuate national 
characteristics, I must not inquire now. Their 
influence was, no doubt, great, if not para- 
mount; but 1 have other things in view to-day. 

The gift of the earth to " the children of 



18 

men," was a munificent one, and a benevolence 
not second to the gift itself, characterized the 
donation. I speak of the earth now, as pro- 
spectively a fallen sphere — where adverse pas- 
sions would meet in sad conflict, and where 
dependent moral agents, under the government 
of God, must solve the great problems of life, 
and work out an immortal destiny. Look at 
the charter again. "The earth hath he given to 
the children of men." And in other and new 
circumstances too, adapted to the present state 
of things, as cited by Paul : "And hath made 
of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on 
all the face of the earth." 

Peace and not war, on these principles, 
should have been the normal state of man; and 
the arts of peace, and not the tactics and 
achievements of war, should have called forth 
his best powers, and constituted his great life- 
work. How far this has been the case, may be 
judged of by such facts as these. Human his- 
tory is little else than a record of sieges and 
battles. Take a few specimens touching the 
destruction of life by this one agency. 

"Do you ask, then, for an epitome of tlie 
havoc war has made of human life ? In the 



19 

Russian campaign there perished in less than 
six months nearly half a million of French 
alone, and perhaps as many more of their 
enemies. Napoleon's wars sacrificed full six 
millions, and all the wars consequent on the 
French Revolution, some nine or ten millions. 
The Spaniards are said to have destroyed in 
forty -two years more than twelve millions of 
American Indians. The wars in the time of 
Sesostris cost 15.000.000 hves; those of Semir- 
amis, Cyrus, and Alexander, ten milhons each ; 
those of Alexander's successors, 20.000.000. 
Grecian wars sacrificed 15.000.000; Jewish 
wars, 25.000.000; the wars of the twelve 
Caesars, 30.000.000 in all; the wars of the 
Roman empire, of the Saracens, and the Turks, 
60.000.000 each ; the wars of the Reformation, 
30.000.000; those of the Middle Ages, and the 
nine Crusades in two centuries, 40.000.000 
each; those of the Tartars, 80.000.000; those 
of Africa 100.000.000 ! If we take into con- 
sideration," says the learned Dr. Dick, "the 
number, not only of those who have fallen in 
battle, but of those who perished by the nat- 
ural consequences of w^ar, it will not perhaps 
be overrating the destruction of human life, if 



20 

we affirm, that one-tenth of the human race has 
been destroyed by the ravages of war ; and, 
according- to this estimate, more than fourteen 
thousand millions of human beings have been 
slaughtered in war since the beginning of the 
world." Edmund Burke went still further, 
and reckoned the sum total of its ravao-es from 
the first, at no less than thirty-jive thousand 
millions ! ! * 

These few facts, selected from many of the 
like character, show that war has been the 
great business of our wretched world. 

The primitive dispersion of our race, not only 
peopled the earth, but each separate tribe, or 
distinct family, formed the basis of a national 
organization. This fact may be distinctly 
traced by the lights of ancient history. And 
not only so, but this arrangement was vital to 
the interests of human progress. The expand- 
ing race could no more form one vast nation, 
and live, to advantage, under one consolidated 
dynasty, than a great city, like London or 
Paris, could be included in the same family 
circle, and live liappily and profitably under 
one shelterino' roof Human or-overnment now 

*See BeckwithV Poaco Manual, p. p. 41, 42. 



21 

for the first time, becomes a necessity. Before 
this event, little more existed, or was needed, 
than the nnwritten laAV of the patriarch of the 
home circle. And it is not at all strange, that 
there should be some diversity, in the primitive 
form and administration of government, — com- 
mencing with the more absolute, because the 
more simple, and becoming more liberal and 
popular, as men became more intelligent and 
active. Civil government was ordained of 
God, — but the type and form w^ere not. — 
These are incidentals, and not essentials, of 
the system. They are among the preroga- 
tives secured to beings who wear their Maker's 
image, by the ordinance of heaven. Govern- 
ment there should be, and must be, or God is 
botli disobeyed, and dishonored, — but the form 
is left to the option and agency of man. And 
notwithstanding the storms which are beating 
upon the frame-work of our Republic, at this 
day, and subjecting the sohdity of the basis 
and the strength of the superstructure to a 
severe test — I stand wliere I ever have stood, 
the declared and unwavering advocate of a 
free, elective government. But this position 
may need some explanations before I close. 



22 

Any citizen has a rig-ht to demand a defence, 
or an apology. 

In glancing the eye over the map of nations, 
and estimating their position and advantages, 
and their material resources, we find special 
cause for gratitude to the sovereign disposer 
for his munificence to us, as a people. It is 
not necessary to affirm, that we possess every 
thing, and other nations, nothing. This is a 
vain boast of which we have had too much. 
It is unseemly before men, and offensive to 
heaven. But if we look at all the elements 
which go to make up the glory of a country, 
what other national inheritance can compare 
with ours t Think of its broad and extended 
area, the fertility of its soil, the variety of its 
products, the salubrity of its climate, and the 
picturesque beauty and grandeur of its scenery, 

— lakes, prairies, rivers, forests, mountains: and 
all these, too, on a scale to be found no where 
else — gigantic in their magnificence — delight- 
fully combined and intermingled in the picture 

— displaying light and shade, and presenting 
an outline, a filling up, and a coloring, no 
where else to be seen on the surfjice of this 
great globe. 



23 

Nor are these physical elements our chief 
distinctions. This fair field was planted with 
the best seed-corn of Europe — carefully select- 
ed and well winnowed, before it was dropped 
into the virgin soil. And, then, the harvest 
which it has for the most part spread out in 
the sun-light of heaven, has been truly cheer- 
ing. During most of our history, war has 
disturbed us but little, while industry and the 
arts of peace, have wrought changes in the 
United States which may challenge a terres- 
trial parallel. I need not tell you of the 
primeval forests which have been felled, and 
the broad acres which have been laid open to 
the sun, and been subjected to the plow-share, 
yielding a rich return, — how villages have 
studded the valleys, and farm-houses starred 
the mountain sides, and cities sprung up, like 
miagic, along the coast, and on the margin of 
the great rivers, — nor how our merchant ves- 
sels have whitened and beautified every sea, — 
and, on their return, poured the wealth of 
nations into our lap. A hint is enough, and 
the activities of meuioi'y are stirred up, and all 
is before you. And our commonwealth, espe- 
cially, has shared, without stint, in these smiles 



24 

of heaven, on our land. This Autumnal Fes- 
tival, is a fit occasion for our thankoffering 
as a people. " Praise ye the Lord." 

But here a grave question presents itself, in 
connection with the existing attitude of our 
country. We are involved in a civil war — 
the worst of all wars of course, — and there 
are men so intensely absorbed by one idea, 
that they doubt whether we are called upon to 
lift up the joyous note of thanksgiving for any 
thing we have left. This is a narrow view of 
a broad subject. A sad picture, it is true, 
meets the eye, but all is not lost. We have a 
government yet, and I trust in heaven, that 
government will stand. It is not at all strange, 
that the crowned heads and starred shoulders 
of the old Avorld, should turn a leering look 
upon us in the day of our adversity. They 
have never forgiven us for the rash act of 
achieving our own independence. They have 
been looking, for half a century, for our down- 
fall, — and many of them have died without 
the sight. I hope many more may follow in 
their inglorious wake. It requires, however, a 
little more than an ordinary stock of self-pos- 
session to bear with England in some of her 



25 

false positions, at the present cla)-. No one 
can fail to see the bard struof-ole that is p-oinjx 
on between pelf and principle — between her 
conscience and her circumstances ; so that, if 
she were to enter npon a personal vindication, 
it might be expressed on this wise, — ' Not that 
we love freedom and the North less, but cotton 
and the other products of slave-labor, more.' 

But however humiliating our condition, and 
however severe and decisive the crisis may 
prove itself to be, we are not to infer, as some 
among ourselves, and many across the waters, 
have done, that we are a ruined nation, and 
the government is annihilated, because we are 
involved in a civil war. What country in 
Europe — I might almost say, the world — has 
not been lashed by the same tempest, — and 
some of them, again and again \ England, 
France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy — 
have all been swept and desolated by this 
bloody scourge, and yet their governments 
have withstood the shock, or been exchanged 
for better ones; and the nations — or many of 
them, have not only survived, but prospered. 
A single civil war in England lasted thirty 
years; and this was only one of many. And 



26 

the whole matter at stake, in this long, deadly 
strife, was the rio-ht of succession to the throne! 
A few pages of Anglican history, well conned, 
mio'ht oTeatlv modifv certain articles in the 
London Times, and correct many strange posi- 
tions and croaking prophecies of their self- 
satisfied and arrogant correspondent — the^^^^ 
rider — Dr. Russell, now hanging about Wash- 
ington City. But as I am for toleration, and 
the largest liberty, I would not drive him 
away, hut let him hang there. 

A great poet and an acute thinker, has said, 
" There are many things between the heavens 
and the earth, which our philosophy clreameth 
not of." But living two and a half centuries 
later than the author, we might say, 'There are 
many things on the earth, without going one 
inch towards heaven^ which neither our phi- 
losophy, nor imagination, could dream of before 
they were embodied in facts before us.' AYlio, 
when the Constitution of the United States was 
formed, or fifty years ago, in his most feverish 
and delirious dreams, could have believed, or 
even fancied, that any portion of our common 
country would have w^aged war against another, 
— and especially for the causes alledged? 



27 

What are the complaints of the South against 
the government 1 Have they been oppressed, 
so that further endurance has become insup- 
portable ? Let us look at the case, and see if 
the charge is true. Some northern men say it 
is : and if we can believe the South, they have 
been forced to take the step of secession first, 
and then the attitude of armed resistance to 
the government, from the same sacred motives 
which impelled our patriot fathers to break off 
their allegiance to the mother country. Ex- 
amine the two cases, and see if the pretended 
analogy does not turn out a downright contrast 
rather. Had the Colonies any control over 
the executive, the British King % None at all, 
either in setting him on the throne, or ordering 
him down. And yet the South with her 
meager population has given us eight presi- 
dents, and the North with an excess of millions, 
only seven when this southern revolt was fully 
inaugurated. Had the Colonies any voice in 
the Legislature, the EngUsh parliament \ Not 
any. Yet the very slaves of the South have 
placed on the floor of Congress, from twenty 
to twenty-five members, as a bonus, or as a 
gratuity, for their peculiar institution. Had 



28 

we any thing- to do with the JiicHciaiy of 
England? Nothing, except to stand as felons, 
after a long sea voyage, before their courts, 
and receiA'e sentence, — while the South have, 
most of the time since we have been a gov- 
ernment, controlled the national Bench ; and, 
for the last sixty years, the presiding officer, 
the Chief Justice, has been a southern man 
and a slav-eholder. Have any petitions for 
the removal of grievances been disregarded? 
None : for no such have been offered. The 
South have generally controlled the govern- 
ment, — and to present a memorial against 
grievances, or a petition for special favors, 
would be an act of supererogation, or of mock 
humility : as much so as it would have been 
in " the elder son," in the Parable, to ask the 
father for " a kid," that he " might make merry 
with his friends," — and the reply would have 
been the same. " Son, thou art ever with me ; 
and all that I have is thine." 

As to the Constitution itself, it is strongly 
southern in several of its provisions, as every 
one knows, who has studied it with care. The 
spirit of slave encroachment had begun to 
work before this instrument was formed. But 



29 

let this pass, as it does not concern us now. 
It is alledg-ed, that the Constitution has be n 
viohited to the injury and oppression of the 
South; and this charge has sometimes been 
uttered by northern lips. But is it so I I 
have failed to discover such a fact. The great 
matters of complaint, gleaned from acres of 
controvers3% may be summed up in the follow- 
ino- thino-s. There are only three. The senti- 
ments of the North, on the subject of chattel 
slavery, are utterly unsound and heretical. 
So the South alledge. We hold that the whole 
system is contrary to the law of God and 
nature, and opposed to the moral sense of man, 
— and that, in its |)ractical results, it is a great 
political and moral evil, — inflicting about equal 
calamities on masters and slaves, and cursing 
the very soil that bears it. And we claim the 
right to speak out our sentiments, on this as on 
all other great questions, in the pulpit, on the 
platform, and every where among freemen. 
Is this unconstitutional I It has always been 
done — when the Constitution Avas formed, and 
ever since. 

J Hit there is a worse political heresy than 
this held at the North, and by a majority of 



30 

the American people, — That slaver^" is a local 
institution, and is subject only to municipal 
laws, and must of course be confined to those 
states which are subject to a slave code. It 
cannot travel abroad and carry these local 
statutes with it, and thus render them general, 
or universal. Hence the Territories are 
barred against this institution, till some power 
having the control of them, shall form a local 
slave code for their government. Is there any 
thing unconstitutional in all this 1 Is not this 
leaving the matter just where the Constitution 
has placed if? You can all judge, and all 
speak, for yourselves. 

But a graver charge than all, remains to be 
named. Fugitives from service — or fugitive 
slaves, have not been returned, in good faith, 
according to the provisions of the Constitution. 
Two or three things should be looked at, in 
connection with this charge. The government 
has not refused to regard this hiAV. Two or 
three administrations have made it a leading 
object of their high vocation to chase every 
man with a dark skin wdiose face was turned 
toward the herald star of freedom — the North 
Pole, — and to return him to hopeless bondage. 



31 

And, then, some of the provisions of the exist- 
ino- fuo-itive slave law are such, that no one 
but a genuine Shylock could wish to see it 
executed. One whose hand was prominent in 
its construction, is reported to have said, that 
he aimed to make it so odious that it never 
would be executed. The motive can be no 
mystery. That gentleman is now in Fort 
Warren. More than all this, the State that 
took the lead in this rebellion, and those that 
soon followed this bad example, had suifered 
less than many others from this cause. They 
had rarely lost a slave. And, then, I have 
noticed another fact worthy of record. In the 
few cases of rescue which have taken place, 
here and there, the popular sympathies have 
generally flowed in one direction, — so that 
some of the strongest pro-slavery advocates 
have been the loudest in crying amen, when the 
hunted victim, panting for freedom, had made 
good his escape. It was natures utterance, 
without waiting to theorize. Some would say, 
the voice of God speaking in man. 

So much for alledged violations of the Con- 
stitution. We may now glance at the novel 
constructions put upon this instrument by 



32 

soiitliorn politicians — T cannot call them states- 
men. In })olitics, as in philosophy, men often 
fin:l, or think they do, what they are looking- 
for. The leading" secessionists can see in the 
constitntional provision for the return of their 
fugitive chattels, and a few other incidental 
recognitions of slavery, that this institution is 
the prime element of our system, and that it 
pfervades everything, and can go every \Yhere, 
without asking leave, and that it is a crime, 
deservino- " strano:lino- and death," to breathe a 
doubt whether it is heaven -born and heaven- 
descended ! It may go to Kansas, plant itself 
in New Mexico, or Nebraska, and repose luxu- 
riously under the shadow of the Bunker Hill 
monument, — and no lover of the Constitution 
should lift a voice or finger against it. If any 
man should chance to feel some scruples 
against such license, — [for jiieace sake, let 1dm 
keep silent V One of the great men of the 
South, now paying court to the pioneer anti- 
slavery Kingdom of Europe, and receiving 
marked attentions there it is said, has discov- 
ered, that the prohibition of the African slave 
trade was unconstitutional, — when that instru- 
ment had made a special provision, that such 



33 

an act might be passed, as early as 1808. 
The South may be set down as progress we : — 
for they discover new things in the Constitu- 
tion, just as fast as they are needed. Once 
they hehl as everybody else did, that it tolera- 
ted slavery in the States, merely as a state 
institution, and gave certain limited and well 
defined privileges for the security of these state 
rights. But now, though they are all strict 
constructionists, they can see in these facts of 
toleration, or sufferance, few and well guarded 
as they are, that slavery is the life-blood and 
animating spirit of the whole system, that it is 
the corner stone of the Republic, that there 
can be no rational liberty without it, and that 
our government was framed to defend, enlarge, 
and perpetuate human bondage, rather than 
freedom. In one word, they find in the Con- 
stitution, just what they are seeking for. 

"The passions," says Helvetius, as cited by 
Sir Wm. Hamilton, in his Lectures on Philoso- 
phy, "not only concentrate our attention on 
certain exclusive aspects of the object which 
they present, but they likewise often deceive 
us in showing those same objects where they 

do not exist. The story is well known of a 
5 



34 

parson and a gay lady. They had both heard 
tliat the moon was peopled, — heUeved it, — and, 
telescope in hand, were attempting- to discover 
the inhabitants. If I am not mistaken, says 
the lady, who looked first, I perceive two 
shadows ; they bend towards each other, and I 
have no doubt, are two happy lovers. Lovers, 
madame, says the divine, who looked second ; 
oh fie ! the two shadows you saw are the two 
steeples of a cathedral. The story is the his- 
tory of man. In general, we perceive only in 
thino^s what we are desirous of findino" : on the 
earth as in the moon, various prepossessions 
make us always recognize either lovers or 
cathedrals." On this principle, the South see 
all they wish to see in the Constitution. They 
believe it all before they look into the teles- 
cope ; and then submit to scrutiny the objects 
of their research. 

I have adverted to the reasons which have 
been assigned in justification of this rebellion. 
They are in the main too shallow to impose 
upon the most credulous ; and I shall not 
argue the case, for every one knows, that the 
grand motive is to glorify slavery. But this 
strange enterprise — the strangest that ever 



35 

astonished the world, like a clap of thunder 
from a clear sky — is as inexpedient, as it is 
causeless, on the part of its projectors. To 
say nothing- of the bad spirit the South has 
long cherished towards the North, the bitter 
denunciations which have characterized long 
years of controversy, and the crowning act of 
all, in opening the floodgates of death upon us 
— thus hazarding the reprobation of the civil- 
ized world ao'ainst themselves: — their better 
genius must have forsaken them, and stood 
aloof from their councils, when they staked all 
on this deadly strife with the government. 
The world is instinctively against rebellion, 
unless " the powers that be " are known to be 
oppressive. And they must be notoriously so. 
The fact must not admit of a shadow of a 
doubt. And can this be affirmed of our gov- 
ernment I There is not a corner of the world, 
where the lightness of our burdens, our just 
and equal laws, our security of person and 
property — so far as white men are concerned, 
are not celebrated in notes that make the earth 
resound, and reach heaven. And, then, their 
position as to slavery and the slave trade, is 
such as to entitle them to no s}'mpathy from 



36 

abroad, and if it had not been for the single 
fact that Europe wants cotton — must have 
cotton — the universal christian and civilized 
world would have united in heaping curses on 
the heads of these insurgents against the mild- 
est government on earth, ponderous enough 
" to sink a navy." 

And, then, as to their own material interests, 
could infatuation ever exceed theirs \ They 
are fast exhausting all their home supplies, and 
their intercourse with the North, and with 
foreign countries, is well nigh cut off, while 
their only products which bring a return in 
money, lie a dead weiglit upon their hands. 
A strong fortification of our own military 
posts and a strict enforcement of the blockade, 
would have parallized, in two years, every 
available energy of soul, and body, and purse, 
without expending an ounce of powder or a 
pound of lead. I do not say this course should 
have been pursued, but I would merely indi- 
cate the perils of their position. The winter 
that is now setting in, will pinch rebellion hlack 
and blue, and it would do it more efPectually, 
if there were no men among us, Avho have 
stronger sympathies with traitors, than with 



37 

their good old mother, who has ever "nour- 
ished and brought" them up as "children." 

There is a certain class of persons, or things 
— for the Constitution seems to contemplate 
them in the one light, and the State laws in the 
other — but who are now very happily termed 
CONTRABANDS, — who bear a very important 
relation to the existing civil war. Their labor 
will become less and less valuable to their 
owners, as this strife waxes hotter and hotter. 
The planting interests of portions of Virginia, 
are desolated already by their perverse notions 
of liberty ; and this phrensy will travel on as 
our majestic and cherished Eagle shall face the 
sun, and look him straight in the eye. There 
are men among us — and good men, too, I 
have no doubt, who beg us not to mix up the 
slave question with this war. If tliis is in- 
tended merely to enter a protest, that we are 
not carrying on this strife for the abolition of 
slavery, I cheerfally subscribe it. Nor are we 
fighting for the defence of slavery. This would 
be infinitely foolish. The traitors are doing 
this ; and if we join them in the object, both 
armies should be one. 

But slavery, in spite of oiii- acts, will mingle 



38 

itself with this war, and no power on earth can 
prevent it. If chattels abscond from their 
owners, are our armies to chase and capture 
them, and carry them home again ? This 
would be very polite. If they come to us, 
shall we send them back to aid the rebels, or 
set them to work, that they may aid us? And, 
moreover, if neither we nor the slaves mix up 
this war with the peculiar institution, their 
masters will do it. They liave done it. They 
are doing it every day. They employ their 
slaves in erecting fortifications, in the transpor- 
tion of military stores, as teamsters on the 
highway, in hard labor and menial services of 
every kind, and especially in cooking, — and in 
the last mentioned office, a slave is as indis- 
pensable as eating. Among the real chivalry, 
the latter must cease when the former is gone. 
And the time may come when this class will 
be compelled to fight for their owners. You 
might as well return horses, or breadstuffs, or 
fire-arms, to the enemy as slaves. And when 
this war shall rage with a firmness and des- 
peration which may be before us, we shall 
learn philosophy from an old poet, that 

" You tako my house, when you do take the prop 
That cloth sustain my house." 



39 

Slavery is the prop that sustains the South- 
ern Confederacy, — it could not stand a day 
without it. And as the war power, and espe- 
cially that of a civil war, has the supreme con- 
trol in this matter, the time is probably at hand, 
when the cotton rebellion and slavery will fall 
together. If this rebellion is not quelled soon, 
slavery is sure to go down with it. 

But it may be asked, shall we liberate the 
slaves, and arm them to cut the throats of their 
masters I By no means. It is not implied in 
anything I have suggested. The African race 
are mild and pacific to a proverb ; and there is 
but one thing for which they would unite in 
promiscuous assassination, and that is liberty. 
Give them this boon, and they would love 
their masters, and leave them too, and let them 
alone. Patrick Henry, for aught I know, was 
inspired with that burst of eloquence — "Give 
me liberty, or give me death" — by having 
seen slavery as it is. Some old Virginia bond- 
man, gray-headed, and crushed in spirit, and 
soul, and body, sat for that picture, which, in 
his eye, seemed worse than death itself. And 
in the stern and grim face of this civil war, I 
see one benio^n feature. When the records of 



40 

this world shall be spread out in the light of 
another, we may learn that this very national 
calamity under which we all groan, was the 
very event under a gracious, overruling provi- 
dence, which forestalled and prevented another 
St. Doming-o massacre on this continent. God 
seems at this day to have taken the cause of 
the slave into his own keeping-, and we may 
be content with stating our principles, and 
leave the rest with Him. My own opinion is, 
and I impose it on nobody else, that this war 
and the institution of slavery in North Amer- 
ica, will end together. It expired thus in 
portions of South America, and I should be 
sorry to think that we are less enlightened, less 
humane, or less the friends of liberty, than 
they. On the mode of closing up this matter, 
I have no theory to broach. But this much I 
wish to say. To loyal men I would have the 
government make a fair compensation for their 
losses: for they were "faithful found among 
the faithless." To the rebels, I would allow 
nothing. Their claim is barred by the Consti- 
tution. They have put themselves out of the 
Union, and the government is bound by no 
compact to return their fugitives. And they 



41 

are the last men on earth to whom such an act 
should be accorded on the ground of comity. 
Some other things would much better comport 
with their position and character. Whether 
they will have those other things — is not for 
me to say. 

There are some even in the loyal states, who 
are disposed to carry a white flag, and affect 
soft language, and practice genuflections, as 
they approach rebels armed to the teeth, and 
breathing out slaughter and death against the 
government and every man at the North. 
Thank heaven, there are not many such among 
ns. They are " few, and far between." They 
look like grasshoppers after a hard autumnal 
frost, or a sweeping equinoctial storm, lone and 
pensive, carrying on their secret communings 
with one another only by suppressed and mys- 
terious whispers. Every victory for their own 
dear native soil and freedom, is followed by a 
deep groan over this fatricidal war; and the 
only lifting up of the dark cloud from their 
brow, and the only glimmerings of hope which 
play around their features and spread a broad 
sunshine over all the face, is when such events 
as the fall of Sumter, or the disaster of Big 
8 



42 

Bethel, the flight of Bull Run, or the slaughter 
of Ball's Bluff, are heralded in the newspapers. 
Ever}^ keen eye has seen all this, and taken 
note of it. Such things are not to be forgotten. 
They may he of use at some future day, — it 
may be of retribution — certainly of historical 
reminiscence. 

There are a few thino-.s which ouo^it to be 
definitely settled by all loyal citizens. The 
times demand both wisdom and honesty. It 
is too late now to attempt to deceive ourselves, 
or to impose upon others. The nation is en- 
gaged in a bloody strife, traitors have assailed 
the goverinnent, and life or death hangs on the 
issue. There can be no neutrality. Every 
man's influence, action, ^^^r^yer^ — if he pray at 
all — must contribute moral or material power 
to the government, or to its SAVorn enemies. 
Let every one take his position — take sides — 
for there is not an inch of neutral ground to 
stand upon. And the greater the decision, the 
shorter the conflict. If any sympathize with 
the South — which some very poorly conceal 
— let them go down to the land they love, and 
partake of "the milk and honey" of a slave 
regime, and share its fate. If it were in my 



43 

heart to wish them penance and purgation, I 
would not say more. Such persons do not 
belong here. This soil and climate do not suit 
them. There is some mistake in their birth 
place and home. 

But in making your choice, and giving 
shape to your future energies, please to take 
note of the following things. Slavery lies at 
the basis of this insurrection, — not slavery as 
it is tolerated and protected by the Constitu- 
tion — but slave propagandisni, wdiich is not to 
be satisfied till the wdiole land and all its insti- 
tutions reflect its dark hues, and are put under 
its feet. The right of secession is an absurdity, 
in political compacts ; and coersion is conse- 
quently the duty of every government wdiicli 
is not willing to yield its assent to self-annihi- 
lation. The insurrectionists having attacked 
the government and its loyal supporters, resist- 
ance is imperative, if we would not abandon 
self-respect, and incur the scorn and derision 
of the world. 

This is our position, and there is no escape 
from it. Talk of compromise with traitors ? 
Propose concessions under the dictation of the 
slave lash ! And what concessions ? Why, 



44 

such as would yield more than two-thh'ds of 
all our territory and most of the grand outlets 
of commerce to the ocean, into the hands of 
the insurgents. To say nothing of the burning 
shame of such an act — what material good 
would be left to us 1 A mere skeleton of a 
Republic, which just now promised to be 
second to no power on earth. Besides all this, 
what a neighbor should we have ! One ever 
stimulated by inextinguishable hate, prosecu- 
ting constant inroads, and meditating further 
dismemberments of our domain. The men are 
stark mad, who talk of compromise. 

There are some thing's that are not to be 
admitted, — the very thought cannot be enter- 
tained. And the thing-s I have named are 
among them. No, never ! Better that a whole 
generation of tlie American people perish in 
this fearful struggle of order against misrule, 
than that our government and all the high 
expectations of freedom and progress which 
have been inspired by our institutions through- 
out the world, be blotted out in this one sad 
drama, and its bloody catastrophe. May 
heaven forbid, — may God, in mercy and sov- 
ereignty, forestall such a doom. 



45 

There is but one course left for us. We 
have no choice in the matter, if we do our 
duty and bide our lot. We must stand around 
the Ark of our civil and political Covenant, 
and never surrender it into the hands of the 
Philistines. God gave it to us, and we must 
defend it, come life, if it may, — come death, if 
it must. Let the North present one unbroken 
front to the disloyal and faithless foe — with 
not a traitor in the camp. Such a personage 
should be welcomed no where — should be 
tolerated no where, except at Fort Warren. 

" In the name of our God we will set up our 
banners." This is no common warfare. We 
have not entered upon it for conquest — or 
fame — or to gratify some old revenge ; but are 
forced into it, for the protection of civil govern- 
ment — "the ordinance of God." This work is 
committed to our hands, and we dare not be- 
tray our hearts. Self-preservation, too, spurs 
us on to the conflict. The Union must be 
preserved, — treason, if God permit, shall be 
rebuked. Let our armies go forth then, to the 
battle with brave hearts, and strong hands, and 
fearless steps, in the name of God and freedom, 
and my faith shall wait quietly for the result, 



46 

— while the old Flag of the nation is given to 
the breeze. It it the " Star Spangled Ban- 
nee," fragrant with cherished memories, — rich 
in cheering anticipations. Let this banner 
float — while the free winds of heaven shake 
out its gorgeous folds, and the sun shine npon 
its stars and stripes, till a mellow light shall 
cover this whole scene of grandeur and glory. 

"Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
And this be our motto — "In God is our trust!" 
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave, 
O'er the land of the free, and tlie liomc of the brave." 



